Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said the European Union is pursuing “too much” a policy of energy-source diversification and assured his country can provide “good and economically viable” supplies. READ MORE

As is known Kazakhstan, as OSCE Chair, put a lot of efforts to settle conflicts between the countries in the Organization's area of responsibility. Thus, Kazakhstan paid much attention to the protracted conflict in Transnistria since the first days of its presidency in the Organization. READ MORE

Success stories in what the European Union calls “the neighborhood” have been hard to come by. First Georgia, then Ukraine, and most recently Moldova have all been big EU hopes. But, in each case, those hopes were dashed. Unfortunately for the EU, this year’s annual summit with Ukraine (on November 22) will likely showcase this failure. READ MORE

In late October Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited Brussels where he met with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, the European Council president, Herman Von Rompuy, and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The parties discussed energy and economic relations, Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and regional security challenges in the post-Soviet space. Astana and Brussels also signed a series of documents to boost economic relations. READ MORE